Lost and Found
by gitania
Summary: There's plans for a change at Torchwood, but who's pulling the strings? Is it the stranger with a link to Jack's past, or could it be one of their own?
1. Chapter 1

Author: gitania

Rating: K

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise belongs to the BBC.

Author's Note: After a long coma, my Muse seems to have returned to me. I hope you all enjoy this one – I might do more with the Torchwood crew if my Muse decides to stick around! Oh, and please excuse some of my Australian spellings – I can't bear to let go of my language roots!

Background: This is slightly AU, towards the end of Season 2. Gwen got married, but Owen didn't die, and Ianto and Jack didn't get back together when he returned at the beginning of the season.

Summary: There's plans for a change at Torchwood, but who's pulling the strings? Is it the stranger with a link to Jack's past, or could it be one of their own?

Lost and Found

Chapter 1

It was freezing by the water tower at Roald Dahl's Plass. She couldn't feel her fingers inside her gloves anymore, and her toes were quickly following suit. Darkness was well and truly falling now, and she could feel tiny droplets of dew forming on top of her head as she waited. She pulled her scarf tighter around her neck and tucked it more firmly inside her coat.

She stamped her feet a little to keep the blood flowing, and the sound reverberated around the deserted square. Standing still again, she turned abruptly towards the sound of approaching footsteps that had been covered by the noise of her own stamping feet. Four sets of footsteps were coming closer, walking at a relaxed pace, bringing with them the sound of cheery voices.

"Still, got there in the end, didn't I?" laughed a woman, her Welsh accent cutting through the plaza.

"Only because of me," replied an Englishman, indignantly. "You would have been royally buggered if I hadn't been there."

She scoffed at him, and the sound echoed into the night.

"I happen to think _I_ was the real hero of tonight's tale," came the lightly teasing tone of a Welshman as the footsteps approached from across the square.

"Yeah, mate, you drive us all around like you were born for it," said the first man sarcastically. "Most heroic chauffeuring I've ever seen."

"Play nice, children," a final voice warned, and her ears pricked up at the sound of it. A smooth, deep tone with an American accent. It brought back a thousand memories, and made her feel slightly warmer, despite the chilly air. She strained her eyes through the semi-darkness to get a better look at the approaching group.

The woman was walking arm-in-arm with a young, pale man who had a collar and tie showing beneath his coat. Her long, dark hair whipped around her in the wind, and she walked close to his side, hunched a little in the cold. Both of them were slightly flushed, and they walked with an air of easy companionship. He had a small frown on his face, but shook it off quickly as she nudged his side and smiled up at him.

A shorter man walked a couple of steps behind them, scuffing his shoes on the pavement as he crammed his hands deeper into the pockets of his coat. He was more angular than the other two, with a large mouth that was twitching in a small smile.

Their leader was a tall man in a long, blue coat that swirled around his legs as he walked. He had dark hair and a strong jaw line, and was moving with long, purposeful strides across the square, slightly ahead of the rest. He had turned to look over his shoulder as he mock-scolded the others, and as he turned back he spotted her by the water tower. His blue eyes went wide, then immediately narrowed as he peered through the night.

He picked up his pace, taking in her appearance as he walked. She looked different than she used to. Her once-short hair had grown very long, and was plaited in a single braid that fell over her left shoulder and stopped at her waist. She was still slim and fairly small, but her face looked older than he remembered. More mature. She looked strong, too, holding herself with an easy confidence that she was still developing when he had seen her last. She had a dark grey coat wrapped tightly around her, with a thick scarf tucked into the collar. She watched him as he approached, her green eyes a bit uncertain.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in disbelief. His breath blew out in a cloud of mist as they looked at each other with growing smiles.

She didn't reply. She let out a short laugh, shaking her head as though she couldn't believe what was happening, and held her arms out to him. He enclosed her in a huge hug, wrapping his arms around her smaller frame and drawing her in close.

"I can't believe it's you," she whispered. Her crisp British accent was so familiar to him that he laughed out loud, and the soft, happy sound echoed around them.

She held onto him tightly, breathing him in, hardly able to believe it. Then they released each other, and he held a hand to her cheek, grinning uncontrollably as he took in her face.

His hand was warm and inviting, and she blushed a little under his gaze as she shook her head again. "My God," she grinned, "Jack Harkness!"


	2. Chapter 2

Lost and Found

Chapter 2

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked again, smiling widely and removing his hand her from cheek. "How did you find me?"

"I didn't," she replied immediately, looking a bit stunned.

Jack raised his eyebrows, laughing a little. She understood.

"Well, obviously I did, since we're standing here together," she agreed, shaking her head slightly. "But I wasn't looking for you. I had no idea you were in _Wales_, of all places."

Jack's three friends had caught up, and stood slightly to the side of the reuniting pair, watching their exchange. The young man in the suit cleared his throat slightly.

"Right. Sorry," Jack said quickly, looking around at them all. "Everyone, this is V. V, this is my team; Doctor Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones."

He gestured to each of them in turn. Owen gave a tight smile and a nod, Gwen looked at her curiously, and Ianto murmured, "Hi."

"Old friend?" Gwen asked Jack, still shaking a little from the cold.

"Something like that," he said with a small smile. He turned back to V, "So why _are_ you here, if not to find me?"

"Contrary to your opinion, Jack, you're not the centre point of the entire world," V said with a knowing smirk. "I'm here to meet a friend. She wrote to me yesterday asking me to meet her here, but I've been waiting for hours and she hasn't shown up."

"Bit weird," said Owen with a shrug.

V made a sound of agreement.

Jack was decisive, as always. "Well, you'll freeze to death if you wait out here much longer. We're about to go for an after-work drink. Why don't you join us? Try her again tomorrow?"

V thought about it, her eyebrows furrowed. It was getting bitterly cold now, and she couldn't see anyone coming out to meet her at this hour. The thought brought about a strange, twisting feeling in her stomach. She pushed it away. There was nothing more she could do tonight, at any rate. She would come back in the morning, and hope for better luck.

V finally nodded. "I'll just leave her a message." She rummaged around in her messenger bag, hitching it up on her shoulder at the same time. Her numb fingers searched the front pocket, pulling out a deep red lipstick that matched the colour she was wearing.

She chose a spot beside the water tower and knelt down on the ground. Rolling up the lipstick, she swept some dirt aside and wrote a string of letters on the pavement.

YV YZXP GLNLIILD

"Still into codes, huh?" Jack grinned, offering his hand to help her up.

V smiled and shrugged as she took his hand, putting the lipstick away as she stood. "Old habits."

"Shall we, then?" Owen asked impatiently. "It's bloody freezing out here."

"Lead on, MacDuff!" Gwen said with a nod, taking Ianto's arm again.

V gave a grin as Jack gallantly held out his arm to her. She took it gratefully, stealing as much of his warmth as she could as they fell in step behind the others.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"My God!" V exclaimed, stamping her feet as she stepped into the busy pub. "And I thought London was cold this time of year."

"It's got nothing on Cardiff," said Gwen, almost proudly.

Owen grabbed Ianto by the shoulder of his coat and pulled him towards the bar. "We'll get the drinks," he offered.

"Pints all around?" Ianto shouted back to the group. Gwen nodded and V followed suit.

"Water for me," Jack called back. V gave him an enquiring look. "On call," he explained vaguely.

Owen and Ianto watched from the bar as the other three found a small, round table away from the door and collected enough chairs for the five of them. Ianto's eyebrows rose slightly as V removed her coat across the room. She was slim but curved, wearing a checkered skirt with tights, and a green knitted jumper that fell loosely around her frame. Her long hair fell over her shoulder and she pushed her heavy fringe out of her eyes as she sat down.

Owen smirked at him.

"See something you like, tea boy?" he asked slyly.

"Don't know what you're talking about," said Ianto quickly, turning back to the bar and inclining his head at the barman who caught his eye. "Four pints and a glass of water. Cheers."

"Pull the other one," Owen scoffed. "She's not your usual type, but it's been a while since someone's struck your interest. You should try your luck."

Ianto threw him an annoyed expression. "Thanks for the advice," he said dryly.

The pair turned back around and watched their friends over at the table.

"Don't think Gwen's a fan, though," Owen observed after a moment's comfortable silence. Gwen was sitting across the table from Jack, watching him engage V with what was sure to be one of his more outlandish stories. She was frowning, just a little.

"What makes you say that?" Ianto asked.

Owen shrugged as the barman placed the first two of their pints on the bar along with the glass of water. "Well, she likes being Jack's favourite, doesn't she? His nearest and dearest. Likes thinking she knows him best. And here comes this one, clearly with quite a history with our Captain. You saw that hug out there, the way he touched her face afterwards. Pretty intimate if you ask me."

"Surprised you know the meaning of the word," Ianto quipped.

Owen made a face at him. Ianto smiled cheekily.

Two more pints appeared, and Ianto paid the barman. "Keep the change," he said, picking up them up and following Owen over to the others.

"Drinks!" Owen announced, sliding a pint across the table to V and taking the seat on the other side of Jack as he passed the water along. Ianto handed a pint to Gwen and sat down between her and Owen.

"To friends," Jack toasted, raising his glass of water. "Both lost and found."

"Here here," Owen said quietly, and the group clinked their glasses together.

"Speaking of friends," Gwen began, glancing between V and Jack. "How do you two know each other?"

"Stand down, P.C. Cooper," Jack said in a lighter version of his warning tone.

"Oh, you're a policewoman?" V enquired politely. "That must be interesting work."

"I'm not with the police anymore, actually," Gwen said, taking a hasty sip of her pint.

"Still, you can take the girl out of the Force…" Owen trailed off as he rolled his eyes.

V smiled at their easy way with each other. It was nice to see Jack surrounded by real, genuine people. Almost like the old days. "So you all work together then, do you?" she asked.

The group exchanged swift, uneasy looks, and V turned her gaze to Jack. "Touchy subject?"

He raised his eyebrows but said nothing, his eyes shining as he sipped his water.

"Very secretive," V smiled approvingly. "I love a good secret."

"You must," said Gwen flatly, "since you still haven't said where you know Jack from."

Owen and Ianto shared a look at Gwen's tone, but V didn't seem bothered as she laughed and tasted her pint.

"So?" Ianto prompted. Now V and Jack exchanged a look, which seemed to annoy Gwen greatly.

"We used to work together," Jack said vaguely. "A long time ago."

"Can't have been that long ago," Owen said, looking V up and down. "What are you, about 25, 26?"

"29, last month. But I appreciate the compliment," V replied with a grin. Owen nudged Ianto under the table and raised his eyebrows at him. "But I was much younger when Jack and I worked together. It's easily nine years…? Maybe ten, since I saw him last." She turned to Jack and smiled knowingly. "And you haven't aged a day…"

"Good genes," he grinned.

"What sort of work could you possibly have to do with a teenager?" Gwen asked with a frown.

Jack shrugged. "Special Ops."

V laughed out loud. "Hardly! We were high-end criminals," she explained. "Part of a Confidence Team in the United States."

"You were a Con-Man?" Owen asked in disbelief. "Con…Person?"

"'Artist', idiot," Ianto muttered.

"I was always more on the technical side of things, actually," V said with a smile. "A bit too young to be much use in the field at that point, to my endless irritation."

"V's got one of the best technical minds I've ever seen!" Jack said proudly. "Her hacking skills are off the charts – she can crack into systems most people wouldn't even dare to try! Made a nice little living out of it, too, if memory serves." He grinned at her slyly then turned back to the group. "Why do you think her name is just a letter?"

V was blushing at the praise, taking a slow sip of her drink.

"I wondered about that," Gwen murmured. "What's it short for, anyway?"

"Victoria," V said.

Jack narrowed his eyes at her. "It was Vivien last time I saw you."

V slid her eyes sideways at him, a slight smile lifting the corners of her mouth. "A fox has to keep ahead of the hounds."

"You're being pursued?" Gwen asked seriously.

"Not anymore," V replied with an innocent expression.

"Gwen, don't worry so much," Jack said lightly. "V knows what she's doing."

"Well, I'm sorry, Jack, but I think it bares a mention if you're looking at harbouring a criminal." Gwen argued, not sounding the least bit sorry for the outburst.

"She's not a criminal," Jack said firmly. "Now drop it."

The group sat in silence for a moment, sipping their drinks and looking around the room.

"Speaking of harbouring," Ianto said eventually in a conversational tone. "Where are you staying in Cardiff, V?"

V blinked. She hadn't even considered it. "I've no idea," she confessed. "I was in such a rush to get here that I hadn't really thought about it." She frowned, feeling the uncomfortable twist in her stomach again.

"There's a nice bed and breakfast just around the corner," Ianto suggested, misinterpreting her frown.

Jack put a comforting hand on her arm. "She'll be there tomorrow," he said in a soft but firm voice. "She'll see the message you left and know you were waiting. She'll find you in the morning."

V sighed deeply. "I hope so. It's just so unlike her. I mean, I haven't actually met her _personally_, but we've done some work together online and I always got the impression that she's very well organised. Very much on top of things, you know? I don't know what could have prevented her from meeting me."

"She'll turn up," Owen said reassuringly.

V nodded, but her eyes showed that she was not convinced. She shook her head to chase away the worried thoughts.

"I'm sure you're right," she said more brightly. "I'm sure Toshiko's just fine."

Owen coughed out some of the beer he'd been drinking. Ianto's mouth fell open a little and his eyes were wide. Gwen's expression moved swiftly through surprise and settled on confusion. Jack frowned deeply, turning his entire body towards V and leaning in towards her.

"Did you say 'Toshiko'?" he asked.

"Yes," V said cautiously, a bit rattled by their strange reactions. "She's the friend I've come to meet. Toshiko Sato."


	3. Chapter 3

Lost and Found

Chapter 3

"Ummmm, that's not possible," said Owen as he wiped spilled beer from his front.

"What do you mean?" V asked. The gloomy expressions around the table made her very nervous.

Gwen released her glass and took V's hand as it lay on the table. V looked at her concerned face and felt her stomach drop. "Toshiko's gone," Gwen said softly. "She died a month ago."

V shook her head, disbelieving. "That's not possible," she said breathlessly. "I received a message from her yesterday. It was in a code we created together – it couldn't have been from anyone else."

"Well, it couldn't have been from Tosh," Jack said firmly. He had a deep frown, and his voice was slightly rough. "She used to work with us. We lost her in the field almost 5 weeks ago."

"No," V whispered, pulling her hand away from Gwen's and pushing her chair back from the table. Her face was pale, and her eyes filled with tears. "She asked me to meet her here. The message only came through yesterday. She wrote to me yesterday."

"No, she didn't," Jack shook his head. "But I'd like to know who did. Drink up," he told his team. "We're going back to the Hub."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Jack led the way through the darkened streets, walking quickly back towards Roald Dahl's Plass. V was almost running beside him so her shorter legs could keep up. The other three followed grimly, all with their heads down and hands in their coat pockets.

"What did the message say?" Jack asked tightly.

"It said she needed some help with her work," V answered, swerving around a streetlamp. "She's written to me a few times before, just for a different perspective."

Jack stopped dead. His face was stormy, and V stopped too and watched him with wide eyes. "Tosh wrote to you about her _work_?" he ground through gritted teeth.

"She knew I could keep a secret," V said defensively. "Besides, she never gave me any specifics. I just gave her some help with a couple of programs she was writing, or a fresh look at some strange object she was trying to figure out – things like that."

Jack pushed a hard sigh out through his nose. Then he turned abruptly away from V and continued towards the Hub. It took V a few strides to catch up, and Gwen, Owen, and Ianto followed silently in their wake.

"How did you meet?" Jack demanded, once V was back in step with him.

"Online," V replied. She had no idea what was going on, and why Jack was suddenly so upset. Surely there had to be some kind of mistake, she just had to figure out what it could be. "We met through a website that allows people to upload complex puzzles, so that great minds can help each other, or challenge each other. Like a mental duel."

"It _sounds_ mental," Owen muttered from behind her.

V ignored him. "Around six months ago I was having trouble with a particularly difficult mathematical equation that was messing up the coding of a new security program I was working on. I put it up on the site, and Toshiko solved it within 4 hours! I couldn't believe it – I had been working on it for weeks with no success! I just _had_ to find out who she was, so I searched around a little until I found her. Then I wrote her a coded note through the site to introduce myself. We've been in contact ever since."

Jack looked at her sternly as they crossed a dark street. "You 'searched around a little'?"

V was silent for a moment, grinding her teeth. "Okay," she said finally. "Once I found out she was in the UK, I hacked into every Government database I could think of until I found her… With Torchwood."

"What do you know about Torchwood?" Jack growled, stopping finally in front of a small tourist information building. The others stopped too, and Ianto started searching his pockets for his keys.

V looked mildly guilty. "Rift activity, alien visitors, Canary Wharf… The Doctor."

Owen's eyebrows furrowed, and he swapped a concerned look with Gwen.

"Here we go," said Ianto with forced lightness, putting the right key in the lock.

"Where are we?" V asked, looking doubtfully at the little shack.

Jack frowned at her. "Torchwood."

Ianto led the way inside, with Owen and Gwen close behind. Jack gestured for V to enter before following her inside and closing the door firmly behind him. He flipped the bolt lock as the fluorescent lights flickered on.

"Nice place," V said wanly, looking around her.

Jack pointedly ignored her. Ianto moved behind the desk and V watched with apprehension as part of the far wall swung open like a huge door, revealing a dimly lit stone hallway.

Jack grabbed V's hand and pulled her towards the open doorway. His grip was as firm as his tone. "Come with me."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The room V entered was like nothing she'd ever seen. Underground, definitely, judging by the few uncomfortable moments she and Jack had spent in the tiny elevator together. It was a huge open space, with metal walkways and stairs linking the whole structure together over three different levels. V could see huge stone archways in the lower walls, making her think of an underground railway station.

She could see the base of the water tower cutting through the middle of the open space, as though it went all the way through the ground above and just kept going. The sound of trickling water echoed through the huge chamber.

On the middle storey of the metal structure, in front of her on the far side of the space, there was an angular, glass-fronted room that looked down on the level below. A few small workspaces were dotted around the ground level, with desks and files and computers, just like any regular office. But the strange weapons cabinet to her right made V rethink the 'regular' part.

She couldn't make out what was on the top level of the structure – it looked like there was nothing but a metal walkway there, but it led out of big holes in the stone walls on both sides, as though there could be other huge rooms like this that made up an even larger structure. V looked up as far as she could, but couldn't see how far away the ceiling was in the dim light. But there was something moving up there. Something large, moving backwards and forwards across the space near the top with alarming speed…

"Pterodactyl," Ianto said calmly, emerging from the elevator behind her with Owen and Gwen, and following V's line of sight. "Can I take your coat?"

V allowed him to help her out of it, handing over her bag, gloves, and scarf. He seemed perfectly at ease in the space, and he smiled kindly at her stunned expression.

"Tea?" he asked politely.

"No time," Jack almost snarled, throwing his long coat over the railing to Ianto, who caught it deftly. Jack locked eyes on V and pointed to the spot beside where he stood, and she climbed the few metal stairs to join him in front of a desk that was surrounded by a bank of computer monitors.

"This was Toshiko's workspace," he said. "There's no way she could have sent you that message, which means that whoever did has hacked into the Torchwood system. We keep some of the most sensitive information in the world here – I need you to find out who got in and how, so we can shut them down."

"But that doesn't make sense," V frowned at the wall of screens that were flashing up a wealth of complex information. "If someone had the ability to hack into your system, why would they use the information they found to bring _me_ here, when I'm probably one of only a handful of people in the world who can shut them back out again?"

"She's right, Jack," Gwen agreed, wandering over from where she and Owen were chatting by the next desk. "We should think about this a bit more seriously before we go poking around in Tosh's computers. Who knows what kind of defences she might have built into her system?"

"We've been using her computers for a month and nothing's happened." Owen argued.

"But only the simplest programs for the things we use every day," said Gwen. "She wouldn't have all the easy stuff protected, but if we start to dig deeper…"

"That's how I'd do it," V agreed. "Leave the necessary bits and pieces available to the rest of you, in case something happened to me, but protect anything that might be worth hacking from the outside. If the information Toshiko had access to is really that important and sensitive, she'd never let it be at risk just because she wasn't around to watch over it."

Jack thought for a moment. Tosh was perhaps the smartest person he'd ever met, and very protective of Torchwood since the incident with Mary and the mind-reading necklace. It wasn't outside the realms of possibility that she'd have a few good booby-traps linked into her system, just on the off chance that it fell into the wrong hands.

"Okay," he nodded. "Conference room, then. Let's leave the computers for now and talk it through."

He strode away down a hallway, presumably towards the conference room, already in discussion with Owen and Gwen. V didn't follow. The lit screens in Toshiko's workspace had her transfixed. There were several large monitors on each side of the desk and two smaller ones along the top, each displaying their own information. Three different keyboards were connected to various screens, held in place at different heights.

One monitor on the right showed a huge map of Cardiff, with a couple of red blinking lights marking the locations of tracking devices. Two screens on the left, one above the other; showed a constant stream of coded information that was scrolling up from the bottom almost as fast as the eye could follow. V stood in front of them, watching the letter-and-number combinations fly upwards and jump from one screen to the next, marveling at the scope of all that information.

"Conference room, is it?" Ianto asked, making her jump.

V put her hand to her heart and turned towards him, laughing it off. "You startled me."

"Sorry." He looked slightly abashed. He was carrying a tray of tea and coffee, clearly having ignored Jack's comment that there was 'no time'. "The others in the conference room?" he asked again.

"Oh, I suppose so," V said, looking around and noticing that they were the only two left. "I got distracted. I mean, this is her whole world, right here. She was fascinating, wasn't she?"

"Tosh? Yeah, she was," said Ianto quietly. He looked down, away from V's eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said gently. "It's still fresh for you all."

"Strange for you, too," he observed. "You thought you were coming here to meet her and find she's not here to meet."

V looked lost for a moment, frowning. "So, who sent me the message, then?"

Ianto smiled kindly, "We'll figure it out." He gestured ahead of himself, nodding towards the stairs to the conference room. "Shall we?"


	4. Chapter 4

Lost and Found

Chapter 4

"We can't just go charging in and hope Tosh doesn't have a defence system!" Gwen shouted. "We could shut down the entire Hub, or worse, if we touch the wrong thing!"

She was sitting farthest from the room's entrance on the left side of the oval-shaped table. Owen was across from her, slumped back in his chair. Jack stood between them at the head of the table, his chair cast aside as he paced in front of the big flat screen on the wall.

"There's no other way to do it," Jack was saying firmly as V and Ianto entered. "Got lost?" he asked, looking up at them.

"In thought, yeah," V confirmed with a nod. She sat down next to Gwen and accepted a cup of tea from Ianto with a smile of thanks. He continued around the table, distributing drinks as V went on. "There's something I keep coming back to; only two ways I can see it happening. The message coming to me, I mean."

"Okay…" Jack ignored the coffee Ianto had placed in front of him, pulled his chair up to the table, and sat down. "Option number one," he looked pointedly at V, "go."

"Number one is the concern," V began, warming her hands around her cup. "Someone unknown, or a group of someones, hacked into the Torchwood system and used records of my online communications with Toshiko to pose as her in order to lure me to Wales."

"For reasons unknown…" Gwen put in, as Ianto put the empty tray aside and took his place next to Owen at the table.

"Sounds a bit far-fetched when you put it that way," Owen said lazily. "And a bit creepy."

"Agreed," V shrugged. "But then there's option number two: the message _isn't_ from someone else, and it was on some kind of time delay for it's delivery."

"Which would mean that _Tosh_ wanted to lure you to Wales, also for reasons unknown, since she's not around to tell us." Jack's tone was clearly unconvinced.

V sipped her tea and threw an impressed look to Ianto.

"Got to put the milk in first," he acknowledged with a wink.

Jack made an impatient sound and looked back to V, who was blushing faintly. Owen smirked to himself.

"Right. So…" V cleared her throat and continued. "Leaving the 'unknown hacker' theory for now, as it's far less likely, and going with theory number two – there are two ways Toshiko could have sent me the message herself. One is using a simple time delay, meaning a system was designed to send the pre-typed message to me at precisely 9:48pm yesterday. I can't see that being right though, considering the contents of the message."

"What did it say, exactly?" Owen asked, leaning forward in his chair and putting his forearms on the table.

V pulled a piece of paper out of the pocket of her skirt and unfolded it. It had obviously been printed from a computer, and contained a similar jumble of letters as V had written up by the water tower.

V slid the note across the table and Owen scanned it, then passed it to Jack.

E,

MVVW BLFI SVOK RM KVIHLM.

NVVG YB GSV DZGVI GLDVI, ILZOW WZSO'H KOZHH, HLLM ZH BLF XZM.

FITVMG DLIP GL YV WLMV.

G.

"In English?" Jack looked up from the note and asked V.

V took the paper back from Jack and read it aloud, deciphering the code as she went. "'V, Need your help in person. Meet by the water tower, Roald Dahl's Plass, soon as you can. Urgent work to be done. T.'"

"That's it?" Jack asked. V nodded and put the note back in her pocket. The group sat in silence for a minute, sipping their drinks.

"What's the other way?" Gwen asked after a time. V raised her eyebrows, questioning, and Gwen went on. "You said there were two ways Tosh could have sent you the message."

"Right," V nodded, collecting her thoughts again. "Number one: time delay. Number two: technological trigger. Some kind of change is made in the computer system that triggers the sending of the message to me. Toshiko could have set up either option easily."

"Meaning, one of us made some kind of change yesterday that inadvertently sent the message off?" Ianto clarified.

"It's the most likely," said V with a nod.

The four Torchwood members looked around at each other with searching looks. Ianto's eyes fell to the table, his brow furrowed in thought. Gwen's lips were moving slightly, as though talking herself through her movements of the previous day.

"I didn't touch my computer yesterday," said Owen finally. "Autopsy on that blue slimy thing took me forever – I only started typing it up when I got in this morning."

"It was me," Jack said heavily. There seemed to be no doubt in his mind. "I set it off."

"How?" asked Gwen. "What did you do?"

Jack sighed and avoided her eyes. "I killed Tosh."

"What you talking about, Jack?" Gwen's accent was thick and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Tosh's been dead for weeks!"

"But I only just updated the personnel files," Jack replied. "I've been putting it off, but I finally marked her file as 'deceased' last night. As far as the computer's concerned, it only just happened."

"So that's what it was," V breathed. "Toshiko set up the computer system to alert me when she died. But why would she want me to come all the way here when she knew she wouldn't be around to meet me?"

"Because you weren't supposed to meet her," Owen looked up, putting the pieces together in his mind. "You were supposed to meet us. Tosh wasn't to know you and Jack were already friends. She wanted you to take her place – welcome to your Torchwood job interview!"

Jack's head snapped up, and he looked sternly from Owen to V. Her expression was completely taken aback – her eyes were wide as she stared at Owen in disbelief.

"Think about it," Owen said to the group at large. "Something happens to Tosh and we're left without a tech. But not for long, because Tosh has not only chosen her replacement, but also sent her a message saying 'urgent work to be done – hop the train to Cardiff'. Simple but brilliant – classic Tosh!"

Jack narrowed his eyes. "No," he whispered, standing up slowly. His gaze was fixed on V, and he stalked slowly towards her around the table.

"Jack?" V caught the intense look in his eyes, and shrank back from him as he advanced. She stood up from her chair and stepped behind it, using it as a barrier between them.

"It's too neat," he said in a slow, quiet tone. His voice was rough, and he kept moving towards V until he stood directly on the other side of the chair. "Why did you come here?"

"What are you talking about?" V asked, sounding shaken. "You're scaring me, Jack."

Jack lifted the chair with one hand and threw it aside. It smashed into the cabinets lining the wall and tumbled to the floor. In the same movement Jack advanced on V, grabbing her by the upper arms and walking her backwards, fast, until her back hit the glass wall behind her. He leaned into her, holding her arms tightly and breathing fast. His eyes were hard and menacing.

"Jack!" Gwen shouted, standing up from her chair. Two more chairs scraped on the floor as Owen and Ianto stood too, taken by surprise at Jack's sudden change. He ignored them all.

"Don't play games with me!" Jack said harshly to V. "Why did you come here? What are you trying to do?"

"Nothing!" V tried to break free from his grip, holding onto his arms and trying to push him away, but Jack was far too strong. "I'm here for Toshiko, I've told you that! Jack, you're hurting me – let me go!"

"Not until you tell me what you're really doing here," he said in a quiet, menacing voice. "You didn't come for Tosh – there's no real proof you even knew her. You could have set this whole thing up just as easily as she could. If you're working a job here, V, I swear to God…"

"I'm not, I promise," V said quickly. "I've been out of the con business for years. And even if I wasn't, I would _never_ do that to you, Jack. Never."

"Jack, let her go and we'll figure it out," Gwen insisted, but he ignored her again. She shared a concerned look with Owen and Ianto, but there was nothing any of them could do. They stood tensely, watching the scene play out.

Jack's eyes searched V's frightened face, but they were cold and unfeeling. Her expression was defiant but she couldn't stop the first tear from sliding down her cheek.

"You think that's going to work on me?" he asked roughly, pulling her forwards then slamming her back against the glass, eliciting a small sound of pain. "You think you can come in here and use our past friendship against me? To manipulate me?"

He was almost shouting now, and his clear blue eyes were filling with tears. V was crying in earnest, shaking her head over and over. "That's not what… That's not why I'm here," she stammered, her breath shallow and fast. "Jack, don't do this, please. You have to trust me!"

Jack shook his head and lowered his voice until it was rough and threatening. "I haven't seen you for years. We used to be close, but that was a long time ago. I don't know who you are anymore. And you walk in here expecting me to trust you. Why should I?"

V sighed through her tears and shook her head. She didn't know what else to say. Jack had never treated her like this – he had always been kind and playful, and affectionately protective of her. But he was right; that was a long time ago. She looked down at the ground, exhausted by shock and sadness. But then something clicked, and she looked up into Jack's eyes.

"You're right," she said softly, her tears slowing as she put the pieces together. "There's no reason for you to trust me. Not unless Toshiko can tell you to. Owen was right when he said that Tosh wasn't to know that you and I have a past. It's never easy to trust a new person, but it's much easier if you have someone to bridge the gap. That's what Tosh has done, I'm sure of it. She's left some kind of message for you, too. Something that confirms my story, so you'll know you can believe me."

Jack did not release his hold. He was silent and still, looking deeply into her pleading eyes as though searching for something important.

"Just give me a little bit of time," V implored. "Then, if you want me to leave, I will, but please let me work this out first. Toshiko was my friend, too."

Jack didn't move for the space of several heartbeats. Then he relaxed his grip on V's arms and stepped away, leaving her leaning heavily against the glass wall with tears drying slowly on her cheeks. He didn't look at the others as he turned and walked out of the room.

"Don't let her out of your sight!" he called over his shoulder, slamming the conference room door behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

Lost and Found

Chapter 5

Owen blew out a slow breath and leaned on the table. Gwen collapsed back into her seat with wide eyes. Ianto was still standing, watching V with a concerned expression as she turned away from the centre of the room. She rubbed the sore spots on her arms and took some deep breaths to steady herself, but her hands still shook when she ran them through her hair. After a minute she wiped her fingers under her eyes to catch any stray tears or makeup and turned back to the others at the table.

"If Toshiko sent a message to Jack about me, it's probably on his computer," V said in a slightly unsteady voice. "I doubt she would have left anything tangible lying around, or you would have found it already."

She left her chair on the ground where Jack had thrown it and took the spare at the end of the table, beside the spot where Ianto stood.

"Jack's office, then," Owen shrugged, taking his seat again.

"Won't he be in there?" V asked nervously.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Gwen said, more kindly than she had been towards V so far. "He'll be down at the shooting range after that little outburst."

"Likes to keep his aim sharp," Ianto explained with a tight smile.

Owen scoffed quietly. "Likes to work out some latent aggression, more like."

"Either way," Gwen gave Owen a hard look, "he'll be out of his office. He won't mind us looking around a bit."

Ianto gave her a look that said she was out of her mind. V didn't like the sound of it either. 'Looking around a bit' sounded a lot like 'going through Jack's personal things', and it didn't seem like the safest move to make, especially considering his current feelings towards her.

"Why don't we wait a bit?" Owen suggested. "I don't know about you lot, but I'm starving. Let's grab a pizza and wait for Jack to cool off – he won't fancy us snooping around his office without him."

"I could look at Toshiko's computers in the meantime," V offered. "In case there's something there."

"Sounds like a plan," Ianto said, and started collecting the half-empty mugs from around the room. "I'll order, shall I?"

"I'll just phone Rhys, tell him I'll be late," Gwen said, following Ianto from the room.

The remaining pair lapsed into silence.

"I guess you'll be the one not letting me out of your sight, then," V said after a minute.

"Guess so," said Owen on a sigh. "Come on then, computers are downstairs."

V got up and followed him from the room. She noticed the gun at the small of his back for the first time.

"Aren't you a doctor?" she asked Owen as they walked down the metal stairs to the lower level.

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Would you shoot me if I tried to escape?"

He turned around to look at her at the bottom of the stairs. "Are you going to try to escape?"

"Am I a prisoner?"

"Right now you're a guest," he chose the word carefully. "A guest Jack doesn't want left unaccompanied. Alright?"

V sighed and followed him to Toshiko's desk. There were still programs running on every one of the monitors.

"Do you ever close the programs?" V asked, sitting down in the wheeled chair at the desk.

He shook his head. "Wouldn't know how to get half the stuff back up. It's Tosh's area – the whole 'computer' thing."

V looked at him incredulously. She moved the mouse around a bit, watching it jump from screen to screen. The small monitors at the top showed various sound waves, and V made sure to save the recordings before she closed them down.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Owen asked nervously as several windows started disappearing. "We do need all that stuff, you know."

"I'm sure," V answered, rolling her eyes a little. "Don't worry, this is my area – the whole 'computer' thing."

Now Owen rolled his eyes, watching layer upon layer of information vanish from the screens. V grabbed a blank piece of paper and a pen from the desk and scribbled a few notes as she closed each program down. The first monitor finally went blank, and the Torchwood logo appeared as the desktop background.

"Feel free to go about your business," V suggested to Owen. "This might take a while."

"I'll keep my eyes on you, I think, darling," Owen said in a smooth voice, looking her up and down.

Gwen snorted at him, not bothering to hide her smirk as she came back into the room. She took a seat on the couch behind them and propped her feet on the coffee table as she slipped her phone back into her pocket. Owen ignored her. He pulled up the chair from behind his own desk and sat just behind V, watching every move she made from over her shoulder.

V tried her best to ignore the pair of them, and scanned her eyes over the files on the monitor. Nothing jumped out at her, so she continued on, scribbling notes and closing programs until all the screens were stripped back to their desktops. It didn't take long before V had closed everything down, and she did a quick check of the screens, one by one.

"Do you think this might be something?" she asked sarcastically, pointing to a bright green triangle that was blinking in the top right-hand corner of one of the larger screens.

Owen leaned forwards and stared at the monitor. "Don't remember seeing that before," he muttered.

V rolled her eyes. "You should really shut things down every so often. It's not good for the computers to be working 24 hours a day."

She double clicked on the green triangle and a new window flew open on the same screen. It was blank apart from five small, rectangular boxes. A black line blinked on and off underneath the first one.

"Password protected," Gwen said, getting up from the couch and leaning lightly on the back of V's chair. "Any ideas?"

"You knew her best," V looked at the pair. "What do you think?"

"Maths," said a voice behind them, and they all looked around at Jack. He raised his eyebrows at V until she turned around and typed the word into the available spaces. The computer gave a short, low beep that was universal for 'wrong'.

V shook her head as the rectangles went blank again. "Any other guesses?"

"What about your code?" Owen suggested, after a minute's silence. "If Tosh wanted you to take over, then this would be your desk – maybe she's trying to say something just to you."

V frowned at him and went back to the keyboard. She tried 'maths' again, but in the cipher she and Toshiko had used for their communications.

H

The window disappeared, replaced by a new one which held a frozen picture of Toshiko, close-up, as though she was taking the picture herself.

"Teamwork," Owen muttered with a smile.

"It's a video file," said V. She turned to Jack, who now stood behind Owen's chair. "Should I…?"

"Ianto!" Jack called towards the kitchen area. His head popped around the wall. "You might want to see this."

Ianto joined the group, standing between Jack and Gwen. They all watched the screen intently as V clicked the 'play' button. Tosh instantly came to life on the screen.

"Bugger," Tosh muttered, frowning as the camera wobbled a bit. She steadied at, and the group watching laughed a little as she adjusted her glasses and settled into her chair.

"Right. So…" Tosh sat back from the camera and took a deep breath. "V, if you're watching this, I guess it means you made it to the Hub okay. Sorry for all the secrecy. I'll leave videos for the others, too, explaining about you coming, so you shouldn't have any trouble with the team – if they can find the files on their desktops, that is. They never shut anything down, not one of them!"

Tosh shook her head, and V stifled a giggle. She liked Toshiko immediately, and regretted that they hadn't taken the chance to get to know each other in person, while she was still alive. V thought they would have been great friends.

"Anyway, you're there now and that's what matters." Tosh looked away from the camera for a moment to collect her thoughts. "I guess the main thing is that I wanted to explain. And to apologise, too, I suppose. You see… I haven't been completely honest with you. I'm sure you've done enough digging on me to know at least a little bit about what Torchwood does – no matter how hard I try to keep tabs on things, there's always stuff appearing on the Internet about us, and if anyone can find it all, you can."

Ianto smiled to himself at Tosh's familiar rambling, while V blushed slightly at the compliment.

"But you're not really here because of the Rift and the aliens, and all that stuff…" Toshiko's eyes widened a bit uncertainly, and she shook her head. "I mean, you are, obviously. Torchwood needs a good tech, and God knows the place will fall to pieces inside a few weeks without someone keeping an eye on it all."

Owen tossed a guilty look at Gwen and she smiled. Tosh was right, as always.

"I know you'll be fantastic at the job," Tosh went on quickly. "Your skills speak for themselves – you won't have any trouble with the technical aspects, I'm sure – and I know the team are just going to love you!"

Toshiko smiled encouragingly on the video, and Gwen mirrored it, looking down at V who was wearing a doubtful expression. Then Tosh took a deep breath, and her eyes flicked away from the camera as she adjusted her glasses again.

"Look, there are plenty of techs out there, if you're not interested," she said slowly. "And I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you into the job – obviously it's your choice…"

Jack made an impatient sound that made it clear whose choice it _really_ was.

"… but it really does have to be you."

Ianto glanced from the screen to V and back again, wondering exactly what made her the best person for the job. Jack sighed silently beside him, as if he already knew.

Tosh shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts. "I'm getting ahead of myself," she said with frustration. "I'm doing your video first because I thought it would be the easiest, but I'm a bit all over the place, aren't I?"

"Pull yourself together, Tosh," Owen muttered affectionately at the screen.

It was almost like she could hear him, because Tosh sighed and looked straight into the camera, as though she could see them all on the other side.

"I think Jack needs you, V," she said softly. "He needs someone who knows him better than the rest of us do. Someone who's been a part of his life for a long time; who might be able to do a better job than we can at keeping him on track. He's been having a hard time of it ever since we got back from 1941, like he's seen how far he's come since then and doesn't really like the look of it… I just think that if there was someone around who knows who he really is, then maybe he'd find it a bit easier to hold onto all the best parts of himself, and let some of the other stuff go."

Jack was deathly still. V could feel him behind her, radiating heat and breathing slowly and evenly, but she and the others stared fixedly at the screen, not one of them daring to look at him.

Tosh rolled her eyes and gave a short laugh. "I didn't know if I'd ever find anyone, of course. I've been looking for clues to his past for ages, but believe me, it's not easy to find anything on Captain Jack Harkness!"

V grinned at the screens, despite the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

"But I knew how important it would be to find the right person. So, after a _lot_ of dead ends, I managed to find the two of you mentioned in some American newspaper clippings from around ten years ago, in a story about a group of con artists who were sweeping the country. Nice work on the Chicago job, by the way, your hacking was amazing! Anyway, I followed your trail from there and finally decided to contact you through the puzzle site."

"You sneaky thing," V whispered to Tosh on the screen. "The whole time I thought I was tracking _you_ down, but all I was doing was following your lead."

"I know you and Jack used to be close," Tosh went on. "I couldn't find any details on what happened after you left the grifters, or why you two lost touch, but I do know this much: Jack needs a family. Probably now more than ever, since you'll only get this message once I'm not around anymore… Gwen, Owen, Ianto, and I are the best he's got right now, but if you're up for it, we could do with a bit of help."

Jack reached out and put a warm hand on V's arm, covering the spot where he had restrained her earlier and stroking it slowly with his thumb. She could feel the bruise underneath, but his touch was gentle now, and she knew this was all the apology she would get from him. She kept her eyes on the screen and covered his hand with her own, knowing he would understand that it was enough.

"So, anyway…" Toshiko said more brightly from the monitor. "I've gone on long enough now, and I guess there's not much more to say but 'good luck'! Oh, and don't worry if Owen hits on you – that's just how he is."

Gwen and Jack laughed out loud, and Ianto artfully turned his snigger into a cough when Owen looked up at him sternly. Then Owen smiled a bit too, but his eyes were red, and he wiped a tear away once Ianto had turned his gaze back to the screen.

There was silence for a moment as Tosh looked down at her hands, and the rest of the group watched her face as she grew serious.

"I hope you'll take the job, V," she said softly, looking up into the camera again. "It can be hard and sad and sometimes bloody terrifying… but it's the best thing I've ever done. The best thing I can even think of to do. You'll be making a difference to the world in a way that most people never get the chance to. And you'll be a part of the most incredible family you could ever hope for."

V held back a sob as Tosh smiled, sadly. "Don't let them forget me, okay? Good luck… Take care of them for me."

Tosh leaned forwards again and turned the camera off. The video window went black, and the room was silent. V had tears on her cheeks, unable to tear her eyes away from the screen even after Toshiko had disappeared. She could hear Gwen sniffling and Ianto swallowing hard. Owen turned away towards his desk and wiped his face with his sleeve.

Jack cleared his throat thickly. "So, do you want the j—"

"Yes," V cut him off mid-sentence. She stood up and turned around to face him, "Yes, please."

He nodded stiffly, tears still in his eyes though none had fallen. V's cheeks were wet, and Jack reached out to wipe a new tear away. She fell into his open arms, and he pressed a light kiss into her hair. He held out a hand to Ianto, who wrapped one arm around Gwen's waist and pulled her in along with him. She put an arm around him too, and the other stroked V's hair gently. Owen stood apart from them until Jack looked him in the eye and beckoned him with a move of his head. Owen sighed and wiped his face again before putting an arm around Jack's shoulders, the other encompassing both V and Gwen.

They stood that way for a long moment, all tangled together and breathing each other in. Jack looked around at his family through his unshed tears.

V glanced up at him with wet eyes from the centre of their mismatched group, and he kissed the centre of her forehead with a sad smile. "Welcome to Torchwood."


End file.
